John Drevar's Expression - The Closer She Get's/When I Come Home

AMAZING UK NORTHERN SOUL OBSCURITY

TRACKLIST: The Closer She Gets/When I Come Home

MGM Records, MGM 1367, 1967, UNITED KINGDOM

A real curiosity this. I found this in a shop in London whilst digging through the usual piles of 60s singles, at first I thought it was Connie Francis or somesuch other MGM turkey, but I bought it because of the unsual name. When I got it home I discovered it was a high energy Northern Soul track. Now, I say 'Northern Soul' because it sounds like the American records that were played in the Northern Soul clubs but after doing a little research I discovered that: "John Drevar’s Expression were a 6-piece Motown influenced band from Southampton. The Closer She Gets (1367) was composed by the ubiquitous Teddy Randazzo and is good, solid Brit-Northern. Don’t confuse this version with the poor remake issued on Destiny in 1979, which wasn't even by John Drevar!" (Copyright M Fitzpatrick) Not only is this an amazing song but 'John Drevar's Expression' are from Southampton! I'm a little bit of a stranger to Northern Soul, but as far as I was aware the music was American: I don't know how many British Northern Soul groups recorded major label sides!

The other odd thing is that it's on MGM. The above quote was taken from a tripod.com website detailing soul on British major labels and this is pretty much the only information I could find on John Drevar. He turned up in a list of British R&B too, but to my ears it's definitely an early Northern Soul sound. I found a copy on popsike which was a demo and had a slightly different label design. With obscure rock records, it's usually the DEMO which is more common as the record companies would have sent plenty of them to Disc Jockeys in the hope of getting some airplay. Thus with 'John Drevar's Expression' I can only imagine that a hundred or so people bought the 7" (people from Southampton?) and then the single sank without a trace. So, in my humble opinion this STOCK copy is RARER than the demo.

Musically, both sides are ripping. 'The Closer She Gets' starts plaintatively over bass and minimal drums in weird lopsided rhythm, but when the first chorus kicks in the drums pick up the tempo and I DEFY anyone not to dance! By the end of the side the listener is left feeling euphoric! The B Side is slightly more British R&B, with great Hammond playing!

I have no idea how much this is worth; it's not usually my bag. I'm almost tempted to keep this, but needs must. I have provided a spare MGM company sleeve with this record which I think is probably a little too early for 1967 but it's the only spare MGM sleeve I had. ALSO, if you already have this record perhaps you can tell me a little more about it? I am unable to offer a sound clip at present, but if you really insist then email me and I will try to render one in Audacity.

CONDITION OF VINYL: EXCELLENT+. On my deck, the music sounds simply PHENOMENAL. The needle glides into the opening music without even a static pop, and from then on in it's all uphill! Playing this song loud with a decent set of speakers is really thrilling and I'd love to hear it in a club setting. VISUALLY, the record is a very strong EXCELLENT. The vinyl has a lovely shine to it, and there is no needlewear or scratches to be found ANYWHERE. There is one tiny, tiny paper scuff at the run-off groove on SIDE A which DOES NOT SOUND. I can't stress enough how light and insignificant this paper scuff is but I always mention these things so you have a complete picture of your item... many sellers wouldn't mention this and would probably grade this record NEAR MINT (see below for my definition of NEAR MINT and MINT.) SIDE B has two similar TINY paper scuffs which DO NOT SOUND at all. Both of these are near the start of the track and you can't tell they're there. THIS RECORD IS IN COLLECTOR'S CONDITION! There is some spindle marking to the labels which is light and only visible at an angle. YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!!!

All records will be sent within two days MAXIMUM of receipt of payment (usually within 4/5 hours of payment received). Your record will be expertly packed in a professional brown mailer, using one or two stiffeners and housed in a PVC 7" sleeve with the record in a paper inner placed outside the sleeve as is standard practice. I've always been lucky when buying records from ebay (save the odd occasion) and would like all buyers of my records to be 100% SATISFIED!

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